One of the most beautiful places on the planet. Where else can one be so close to nature? Where else does one find this sensation of solitude, white sand, turqoise water and magnificent diving and snorkel sites? Concurrently, every hotel ressort is an autarchic Village with all the technical facilities. Guests shall not suffer any limitations. But the guests are a burden for the ecosystem. The guest should understand, that his waste water is being dumped into the reef (as well as the alkaline water from his daily washed towels), the fresh water is generated by an enormous amount of energy through salt water, his air condition only runs and his accumulator of the camera is only loaded by diesel generators hat run day and night. And that every piece of rubbish he brings will be burnt and dumped into the reef. These are some examples, where the guest can easily support a sustainable form of tourism on the Maldives.

Mission

Protect the Maldives is a non-profit organization with the goal to provide more information to tourists visiting the Maldives. We want to make tourism more environmentally friendly and ecologically sustainable with the help of the tourists.

Content

We wrote down some easy to follow rules, translated them into 12 languages and put it all together in a printed brochure.

History

From 2002 to 2014 Protect the Maldives was a registered organisation with a board, members and a bank account. With the donations and member fees the printing and distribution of our brochure, which contained the 12 languages, was being financed. The brochure was meant to be distributed to the tourist resorts, at no cost for the resort, so it could be found in each of the resort‘s bungalows. In 2014 this very ambitious and stressfull plan could no longer be fulfilled by the organisational structure, so the board decided to dissolve the formal organisation. The brand should and will live on in the internet through this page and our Facebook appearance.

In the 12 years of work we printed and transported around 20.000 brochures to the co-operating islands. Highly fluctuating managements on the resort islands, unreliable logistic partners in the Maldives and the very exhausting work to acquire new partner islands proved hard work for the completely voluntary board members.

We always received a very positive feedback on our work. We established heartfelt partnerships to islands and their managers, to diving schools and their instructors and to many many committed people who supported us through the years.

We can certainly say that we contributed to a better understanding of the fragile eco-system of the Maldives and that more people find certain behaviours to be the natural course of action. Plus, island managers have understood that tourists do demand significant involvement in ecologically sustainable actions.

Welcome

Did you know that …

... every drop of fresh water on the Maldives is being produced by desalination plants -- run by diesel engines?

... one of the biggest threats to the coraline eco system is over-fertilization due to induced waste water?

... electricity, so for your camera charger and the air conditioning for example, is being gained by diesel run generators?

... the entire rubbish will be burnt on your island or be brought to „rubbish islands“ in the atoll? Combustion residues will be dumped into the ocean, right in front of your island. It is a major relief to take home what you brought.

... turtles may drown in panic if you swim over them, touch them or threaten them?

... manta rays, and other fishes, have a coating on their skin, protecting them from parasites? One of many reasons to follow the simple rule: only touch with your eyes.

… the growth rate of the coral is extremely slow? And that your island‘s reef is its only protection from erosion due to tidal extremes?

… in 1998 about 98% of the coral was destroyed by the El Niño weather phenomenon? Four degrees warmer water were enough to unleash this catastrophe. In 2006, following a report by Reefcheck, recovery was at 9%. So the reefs of the Maldives remain a seriously injured patient within convalescence. A good reason to take care.

… 99% of the tourists who book the so called night fishing would not do it again because they were severely disappointed?